Noah Cooley is my brand new nephew! I now have exactly two nieces and two nephews so ya’ll STOP MAKING MORE HUMANS because this is a nice balanced set I have here and I don’t want you to SCREW IT UP.

I changed my mind I love babies more than balanced sets. CONTINUE BREEDING.

Happy birth day, Noah!

My sister is super good at making me nieces. Keep it up!

Jade likes being small and having brown hair. She is good at both.

Happy birthday, Jade! Congrats on being born!

9:52:24 AM Justin Blake: i’ll probably turn to drugs
9:52:29 AM Bill Evans: no
9:52:31 AM Bill Evans: dont
9:52:32 AM Bill Evans: eh
9:52:33 AM Bill Evans: go for it

11:40:01 AM Sean Rodriquez: i have to take a dump but my sister just crushed one in there
11:40:21 AM Sean Rodriquez: it’s like one of those rooms in a video game where the air is green and you start losing health when you walk in

Sean is going to be the teacher you want to eat lunch with. The one you don’t mind making eye contact with at the grocery store. The one you hunt down first at your ten year class reunion. I know this. I have seen it in my palantir.

I do not have a picture of Sean because Sean is a phantom.

Happy birthday, Sean!

By the time Diana’s birthday rolls around I’m usually too burnt out on birthday posts to say anything worthwhile. The youngest always gets the short end of the stick.

Or maybe they get the whole stick because they are the baby. I don’t remember.

Diana did a pretty good job making an awesome Piper, so I’m sure the Jade she’s cooking now is going to be cool too. Just wait. I’m calling it. Nieces everywhere!

Diana does not like theme park body water. It’s not a favorite.

Happy birthday, Diana!

Nana is a good super hero. I’m a super hero with a cape. Nana is a super hero with no cape.
-7/8/11

I’m a germ. I live in a garbage can.
-7/14/11

I want to be tall and married.
-7/14/11

Dragons are scaredy.
-7/15/11

Nathan: you get my ice cream?
Kari: Daddy’s getting it
Nathan: Daddy’s not the ice cream man, you’re the ice cream lady
-7/16/11

I’m a bug expert
-7/16/11

I have a daddy, and a mommy, and a brother. I need a sister. How do I get a sister? I know! I draw a map, and color the map, and follow the map.
-7/16/11, too much Dora The Explorer

No wimoweh? How a do. Give me a break.

Some snowmens sink, some snowmans don’t sink. Snowmans sink, how we get them back.

I’m not a son. I’m not yellow, round, or in the sky. I’m just a kid.

What happened to your body? You got stripes. You’re not a zebra.
-7/22/11, the result of 2 kids

What’s in Aunt Diana’s body?
-7/23/11, a baby

Christmas tree, check!
Toys, check!
Other Christmas decorations… that check is missing.
-7/24/11, pretend Chrismas

Sundae doesn’t go to work, she’s not a daddy, she’s a cat.
-7/25/11, part-time office kitty

I don’t need itch cream, I need a magician. Hmmm…. no magician in this house, we need to go far far away to get a magician at Nana’s house.
-7/25/11, bug bite relief

Lindsay is not too old to see a midnight premiere of the last Harry Potter movie. I still need to call her so we can talk about how great it was and how sad we are that there are not going to be any more.

Lindsay lives where people spontaneously burst into choreographed song and dance while walking down the street. Does that make you want to visit? It makes me want to visit.

Happy birthday, Lindsay!

Today is also Tyler Griffin’s birthday! Tyler moved away a long time ago as part of an elaborate plan for me to run out of things to say about him in birthday posts.

Happy birthday, Tyler!

James is the kind of guy who will read the first six Harry Potter books but skip the last one in favor of a brief plot synopsis at a party. This won’t stop him from going on a man date with you to see the last movie even though they run on foot when it helps the plot and/or the suspense.

Happy birthday, James!

Move Justin’s office to the barn. Done! He’s been working out of the barn for months and we’re all pretty happy with the move.

Make the old iguana-room-turned-chicken-room into a real barn office for Justin. Half done- he’s in the room, but the room still needs a little work.

Make a better dog/cat room in the house. also partially finished- It really needs to be painted and the floor needs to be finished. Some shelves would be nice too.

Reclaim my laundry room. Done, mostly. I could use some shelves, but at least it’s my laundry room again, rather than a cat room I wash clothes in.

Make a toy room for Nathan. three-quarters done. He has a functioning toy room, but the floor needs work, the ceiling fan needs to be put up, and we need to get and install a door for the closet.

Expand the chicken run. Not at all done. Justin did however get a shade cloth put up so they will have more shade in their run. To add to this project, we’re also now hoping to construct an enclosure to house some guinea fowl and peafowl.

Decorate the living room. Not even close. This project has been push to the bottom of the barrel for a couple reasons- firstly, it’s a more expensive and time consuming project. Secondly, on the surface it’s a less important project. Really, though, I do think it’s an important project and one I’m still hoping to accomplish, even if it takes a little longer than I’d like. The current state of our living room is ugly, depressing, and nearly unusable. If you haven’t seen our living room and think I’m exaggerating, I’m not. In it’s current state it sits relatively empty, with white, picture-less walls, a floor that’s uglier than most garage floors, and no furniture.

Even though we still have a lot to do to complete these projects, I’m pretty happy with what we have accomplished. We have so many smaller projects that get tossed in between these that it often makes it challenging to work on these bigger projects. I really like always having projects to work on, I just wish we had a little more time to put into them.